Report: Jeff Ireland has been told his job is safe

It wasn’t long ago that cleaning house looked like a good idea for the Dolphins.

But after winning three of their last four, there’s apparently a measure of security for the guy who put them together.

According to Armando Salguero of the Miami Herald, Dolphins General Manager Jeff Ireland “has received assurances” from owner Stephen Ross that his job was safe.

Ireland has been a popular whipping boy for Dolphins fans, and he spent Ross’s money this offseason like he was desperate to avoid firing.

But after the team has bounced back from the criticism that came with the early days of the Jonathan Martin-Richie Incognito bullying investigation to play well, some of the frustration with the direction of the team has subsided.

Good, the Dolphins deserve the crappy teams they will have over the next season or two, at which point he will eventually be fired anyway. As a Patriots fan, I would like to thank yet another team in the division (this time the Dolphins) that continues to accept mediocrity. It’s nice to be in a division with three incompetently run organizations.

Many are going to blast the Dolphins for this one and I’m not going to agree with it. Ireland has done his job well. The coaching has been the biggest issue this year. If Philbin coaches as good as Ireland has been in the front office than the Dolphins only have three or four losses on the season.

Further proof that the investigation is leaning in Miami’s favor? Or Ross just being too loyal? Even though Ross was caught up in the whole Harbaugh thing a few years ago, he’s shown that he can sometimes be TOO loyal. I guess we’ll see.

FinFan68 says:Dec 9, 2013 8:40 AM

Good. Too many fans bash him and most use bad info or cherry pick things to boost their arguments. Looking at the big picture he is no better or worse than the other GMs. Chemistry with the HC is important and the Dolphins finally have that. Let it play out.

Look at the teams Seattle and San Francisco have built on less money and fewer top 10 draft picks than the Dolphins. These were 3 teams at the bottom of the league at the same time and only one of them gets away with living off its “potential” every year without ever actually winning anything.

Sad. Ross clearly doesn’t know what he’s doing as an owner. This would be the perfect time to clean house and get a competent GM/coach combo. This team is not talented enough to even threaten a Super Bowl run, and apparently he’s just fine with that. He just needs to quit telling us he wants to build a winner when he really doesn’t care.

As a Phins Fan I am on the fence about Ireland. He is a good scout for talent, but nothing great. As the face of the Franchise, we could have done better. He inherited a mess and is building for the future. Sure, we want instant Playoffs, but the reality is a 9-7 season is what most projected.

As for the funniest comment of the day from. @Patskrieg dot com… The 49ers and Seahawks spent less money? Dude, every team spends the same amount in Cap! This isn’t baseball, knucklehead. Yes, some teams have more than others in a given year, but that is because they rotated contracts. By the way, the Patriots could barely beat the Browns. You needed miracle plays and Very Favorable Refs ( as usual) to pull out a Win. How far will you go in Playoffs? Brady’s days are ticking off. Enjoy it while you can. This is your last hoorah and unfortunately it will be a one and done.

I’m not the biggest Ireland fan, but he has brought some nice talent to the team, Clay, Hartline, Gibson, Grimes, Pouncy, Vernon.

My 2 biggest issues are that fact the the O line, since Sporano has been totally unsettled and the lask of production over the years from our second round picks, Philip Merling, Chad Henne, Pat White, Sean Smith, Jonathan Martin, Jamar Taylor last year, none of who made it through their rookie contract and non are still on the team.

O line talent evaluation has been horrid, Marc Columbo, Clabo. They never seen to have any good young talent they are developing and many fairly high picks, 3rd round have been busts.

The team is coming together nicely, O line help, LB help to me are the key.

The Dolphins have their share of misses with Ireland, but it’s convenient that people refuse to acknowledge what he’s done right.

Charles Clay: Drafted in the 6th round
Brian Hartline: Drafted in the 4th round
Reshad Jones: Drafted in the 5th round
Olivier Vernon: Drafted in the 3rd round
Lamar Miller: Drafted in the 4th round
Cameron Wake: Signed from the CFL

Those are all starters and contributing. Lamar Miller’s numbers would be much better with a better OL.

Then there’s Jimmy Wilson who was drafted in the 7th round and turning into a solid nickel corner. Nolan Carroll was drafted in the 5th round and he’s done a decent job starting in place of Dimitri Patterson this year.

As for the moves in the 2013 offseason:

The Dion Jordan pick was brilliant but he isn’t seeing the field nearly enough. That’s on Philbin. The Dolphins barely gave up anything to move up in the draft. Yet everyone says Miami should have picked a tackle and then you look to see how all the lineman taken early not doing much.

The Ellerbe signing was terrible, but other than that he did a pretty good job this offseason. Wallace isn’t contributing the way Dolphins fans had hoped but you have to pin that on the coaching staff more than anything else. The Grimes signing was brilliant.

His first round picks:
Dion Jordan: Already discussed.
Ryan Tannehill: Still developing, looking like the answer at quarterback.
Mike Pouncey: One of the best centers in the league.
Jared Odrick: Solid DT and he’ll be a good replacement when Starks or Soliai leave after this year.
Vontae Davis: Good CB when he was here. The Dolphins chose to get a second round pick for him rather than giving him a contract extension.
Jake Long: Would have been a HOF LT if injuries didn’t ruin him.

Also, despite him not being on the Dolphins anymore (because Philbin didn’t want him), he got Reggie Bush for a swap of 6th round picks.

Every single first round pick has been a hit. He’s missed on some other mid round picks but every GM does. The key is to have more hits than misses. The Dolphins have that.

The hate for this guy is ridiculous. There are a number of worse GM’s than him.

That is why I really like this team they get it, finally someone dose not believe in firing folks and restarting the building process over only to hear the same crazy fans wonder why the team does not progress beyond mediocrity.

The CURE to mediocrity is CONTINUITY!!!!

Thank you Mr. Ross!!!

PeterKingLovesCoqAVin says:Dec 9, 2013 11:23 AM

Miami has the talent to make the playoffs. I don’t think that is up for dispute. Some very close losses this season. I like Philbin but there have been some brutal mistakes with games on the line that cost Miami a couple of wins (Buffalo and Carolina come to mind). Bottom line is that the GM has the right players on the roster, like it or not. It can always be better, but there’s no doubt what is there is good enough.

If we fire Ireland like some of the fans want…half of this team would be traded or released which in turn would add another 5-7 years of trying to make a run in the play-offs. Right now with Ireland we actually know what we need next year…LINEMAN and maybe LBs after that everything becomes depth. I understand that we have not used our corners that we drafted but right now it doesn’t look like we will need them for another 2-3 years because we seem well stocked at the position (this dreadful unit was fixed in 1 offseason by Ireland). This next draft is LOADED w lineman, I would not mind seeing what Ireland finds in this next draft.

randomguy9999 says:Dec 9, 2013 5:12 PM

Making excuses for Ireland by recounting what he’s done right doesn’t fly.

Reality is he’s managing player acquisition for 6 years and they don’t have a:
– clear franchise QB,
– nor clear franchise player of any type,
– nor have they had a playoff game, except 2008 his first year which wasn’t due to his staffing

They might squeak in this year, but for 6 years of rebuilding, he doesn’t really have a serious team built.

How many rebuilding years does he get?

How many other teams would still employ him under these circumstances?

tcclark says:Dec 9, 2013 6:11 PM

Chad Pennington, Jake Long, Davone Bess, and Tony Sporano had nothing to do with the Dolphins making the playoffs in 2008?

wake, oderick, vernon, grimes, patterson, jones, clemons, wheeler, ellerbe, tannehill, pouncey, hartline, gibson, miller, clay, wallace has changed the passing game despite his numbers which are not as bad as most people like to make them to be, this guy has as many good moves as bad ones, just like any other gm who take chances on kids coming out of college or free agents. he has put together a good team, brought in a good coach, the only issue this team has is o line, they are deep at most positions. if this o line was halfway decent they would be sitting at 8 or 9 wins right now and finish in double digits. the line has played better since the scandal and they have won 4 of thier last 6.

beachsidejames says:Dec 10, 2013 2:26 PM

The Fins is getting better and are 6th best in the afc. Sundays game against the Pats should be a good game to see where they are at. Pats are good but won’t win Sunday.

tavisteelersfan says:Dec 10, 2013 4:26 PM

Like AJ Smith, Ireland must have compromising pictures. Good luck Dolphins.

1 playoff win since 2000……enough said, this guy is a bum and so is the organization for that matter. The only thing you can call the dolphins are losers, the franchise hasn’t been the same since Dan retired over a DECADE ago. How some fans can defend this clearly unqualified GM is laughable at best.

His drafts and signings blow….

Dion Jordan – bust ..3rd overall pick needs to make an impact, this guy was HURT when we drafted him

Wallace – over paid for him, can’t get him the ball bc our QB can’t throw the deep ball

Did not resign Reggie Bush

Were going to give this guy props because he signed Wilson and Carroll?!?! backups who get burned?!!?

overpaid for over hyped had a few good games last year linebackers

Do I even have to go into the Dez Bryant situation?!?

You people defend this guy for drafting players that produce squat, and the dolphins are always watching the games in January from home….for all these “good” moves he has made it has gotten the dolphins NOWHERE!!! I’m tired of hearing next year next year next year…..its been going on now for almost 15 years! Get your heads out of you a$$es!!!

Lets not pretend this team is talented, they should have lost the Pittsburgh game, we got lucky…only the Dolphins could get hook’d n ladder’d